Some Thoughts Concerning Education

by John Locke

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Genres: Philosophy, Education, Nonfiction, Classics, Politics, History, Parenting

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1693

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

John Locke was an English philosopher. He is considered the first of the British Empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin for modern conceptions of identity and "the self", figuring prominently in the later works of philosophers such as David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first Western philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness." He also postulated that the mind was a "blank slate" or "tabula rasa"; that is, contrary to Cartesian or Christian philosophy, Locke maintained that people are born without innate ideas.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my "Western canon books on raising children" thing (previously read Emile and of course that is in significant part a reaction to this). Interesting stuff.

Locke promotes something along the lines of authoritative parenting. He views willfully defiant behavior as deserving fairly severe discipline, but that in the absence of this, he says parents should work to influence their children via reputation and related mechanisms--praise, measured condemnation, a (dis)approving look, etc.--while avoiding corporal punishment or nagging criticism.

He has an interesting bit on how parents often get things backwards--they dote on their small children (tolerating all sorts of nonsense) and then give them a hard time as teenagers. Instead they ought to create a very high standard of discipline when their children are small, and then progressively allow them greater freedom and treat them with more respect as they grow older and more responsible.

He gives great attention to "good breeding," meaning something along the lines of "general soft & social skills becoming an English gentleman," as a quality to be cultivated in the child and specifically sought out in a tutor (and harder to find in a tutor than academic skills). He figures a child with solid general skills ("good breeding," reading, math) and a bit of general exposure to specific areas (e.g. put a little bit of science in front of him) will be able to go much deeper in any areas of particular interest if he wants to, and that the child will not benefit in the long run from being forced deeper into a sub-field without particular interest. Thus children should not be put through lots of rote learning in subjects like science or Greek.

He suggests that lots of traditional educational practices are misguided. For example, having kids write essays conflates the two distinct skills of writing grammatically and inventing ideas, and studying rhetorical devices would be more appropriate for a master class in public speaking than for a kid who just needs practice stringing together coherent arguments. He is skeptical of kids writing set speeches, as life is usually ex tempore. He spends a fair amount of time discussing language learning and promoting a model where children learn by exposure, reading, etc. rather than by formal grammar study (again an activity best suited to those who already have a fair degree of language mastery).

He has an interesting perspective on recreation. Rather than leisure, where productive activity stops, he is in favor of alternating between activities that use different capabilities. Thus physical exercise is a break from reading, while reading is a break from physical exercise, and you can enjoy each for what it is and have a happy, balanced life without ever needing to stop and vegetate. And Locke figures whether children (or adults) view something as work or pleasure has a lot to do with framing rather than inherent qualities of the activity. Corollary: you ought to manipulate children accordingly, to the point of assigning them to play so that they'll get tired of it and be willing to take a break and study.

He dismisses the teaching of poetry (worst case, kid becomes a stereotypical angsty dissolute poet; best case ???), painting (bad painting is awful and good painting is only likely to be achieved with an excessive investment of time), and music (similar). Also skeptical of much memorization, on the grounds that it is not a skill that generalizes.

Some of it, inevitably, has not aged well...there is a discussion of peaches being "unwholesome" that is just amusing.

I got the Grant/Tarcov version on Amazon and it seemed be good quality.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

highlights/takeaways:
- reward/punish system only reinforces natural passions to seek pleasure and avoid pain
- teach children to enjoy the thing for itself (suggests game to make learning to read fun)
- teach them religion first so they have room for the idea of spirits/intangible things and can study philosophy later

[ZaRi]

"One thing I have frequently observed in children, that when they have got possession of any poor creature, they are apt to use it ill: they often torment, and treat it very roughly, young birds, butterflies, and such other poor animals which fall into their hands, and that with a seeming kind of pleasure. This I think should be watched in them, and if they incline to any such cruelty, they should be taught the contrary usage. For the custom of tormenting and killing of beasts, will, by degrees, harden their minds even towards men; and they will delight in the suffering and destruction of inferior creatures, will not be apt to be very compassionate or benign to those of their own kind. Our practice takes notice of this in the exclusion of butchers from juries of life and death. "

"Children should not be suffer'd to lose the consideration of human nature in the shufflings of outward conditions. The more they have, the better humor'd they should be taught to be, and the more compassionate and gentle to those of their brethren who are placed lower, and have scantier portions. If they are suffer'd from their cradles to treat men ill and rudely, because, by their father's title, they think they have a little power over them, at best it is ill-bred; and if care be not taken, will by degrees nurse up their natural pride into an habitual contempt of those beneath them. And where will that probably end but in oppression and cruelty? "

[Trần Hải Đăng · Rating 5 out of 5]

#3 "Thật vậy nếu sau này chúng tốt hay xấu, người ta sẽ căn cứ trên giáo dục mà khen hay chê chúng; và khi chúng phạm lỗi, người ta sẽ không khỏi phán xét bằng câu nói thường tình: "Đó là lỗi do nền giáo dục mà chúng đã nhận được." - John Locke

[sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're studying educational philosophy, I'd say this is a must-read.

There were many ideas Locke had that were great. Let's just give him a round of applause for the moral education thing, shall we? *claps* Thank you for believing in virtue. And yes, parents are important and should be respected, usually. And children should definitely be taught to love the truth.

But, Mr. Locke, why did you want to take logic and rhetoric out of learning? They've done that a lot recently. To think, centuries of great studies in logic and rhetoric, and then after philosophers such as Locke, the art began to fade within schools and educators.

This is one of those books that is filled with great philosophies, but should also be read critically, and not be taken too literally. If you still want your kids to partake in fencing lessons, that's fine! Don't let Locke stop you. Take things out of it, such as the ideas of moral education and individualized education.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read an abridged version of this for my Educational Philosophy class. Most of the book seems like common sense on how to raise and educate children according to today's standards but I can see how it was a shift from how children were previously educated.

[Lloyd Earickson · Rating 2 out of 5]

To read Locke’s Two Treatises of Government , which were excellent, applicable, insightful, and foundational pieces of political philosophy with profound impact on our modern governmental architecture and implicit social contract, I obtained a copy of Locke’s works which included numerous other pieces.  Given my interest in education, his Some Thoughts Concerning Education stood out for reading, and I finally picked it up as one of my inter- Wheel of Time reads, fully expecting it to be as insightful on the topic of education as Two Treatises were on governance.  Instead, I barely convinced myself it was worthwhile to finish skimming it.

There’s always a chance that these sorts of historical works will suffer from a certain lack of atemporality – that is, some of them don’t age well.  That’s not always a problem.  Xenophon’s treatises on the proper running of a Hellenic farmstead, or the optimal training of a cavalry mount, don’t have much relevance to the modern day…but they are interesting from historical and world-building perspectives because of their specificity.  Even if Locke’s thoughts on education weren’t relevant to modern education, I thought they would at least offer this historical interest aspect, but that proved not to be the case.  Some Thoughts Concerning Education both contains little of relevance to education in the modern age, and is to broad and/or general in its assertions to be insightful from a historical perspective.

Oh, there were occasional tidbits, like the specified recommendations for diet, and a few general suggestions which are of relevance, like the basic principle that children (and people in general) respond and adapt to the stimuli to which they are exposed and accustomed.  Most of the text, though, is at too high a level to offer intriguing specificity, and Locke’s conclusions are based more on anecdote and rationalism than any more rigorous approach to understanding education.  Perhaps it is because of my interest and engagement with education that I found this approach so lacking.  Not that I expect Locke to know the neuroscience of learning, but his other works demonstrate a much deeper understanding of human nature.  I wonder if this was one of his earlier works.

It is worth remembering that the role of the education has fundamentally changed since John Locke was writing and thinking.  A recent episode on the podcast Hidden Brain observed that while in the past a generation could reliably educate the next generation based on their own experiences, these days large scale change happens at speeds that end up with the next generation often educating the previous generation.  Now, that could be the topic of its own post, since it rests on some assumptions about the nature of change and our ability to perceive it consistently across time that may or may not be founded, but the point here is that the nature of education, and its goals, are highly situationally dependent.  Putting aside our modern knowledge of neuroscience, psychology, and other scientific disciplines which can inform educational techniques, the goals of education that we think of in response to that word today are dramatically different than those of Locke’s society.  Where modern education is thought of as a way to develop skills and to teach knowledge/information, in the past education was thought of as a way to develop a person towards a specific end.  This may be the source of some of the disconnect in perceived relevance.

I recently started reading an HG Wells novel called The Research Magnificent, in which the protagonist is set upon the search for what constitutes as noble life.  Most modern sensibilities likely regard the entire notion as faintly quaint and highly ambiguous.  Which it is, as evidenced by the lengthy novel Wells wrote on the topic, not to mention the thousands of other novels, essays, treatises, and other texts devoted to the topic over human history.  Some Thoughts Concerning Education is not about how best to teach someone to be an engineer, or to do calculus, or to hyperanalyze books beyond the reasonable bounds of meaning; it is about how to raise someone to an idea of nobility and social functioning quite apart from specific skills or societal place.  Unfortunately, it is still executed at too general a level to make it a worthwhile read.

[Kristen Mohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though some of Locke's ideas have proven to be somewhat off the wall, others are surprisingly progressive, at least as to the mainstream understanding of this time period.

[Rowland Pasaribu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Locke was very much a man of his times, partly because he did so much to shape them. He was born into an England that was teetering on the brink of enlightenment, and he helped to push the country over the edge. By the late 17th century, the beliefs in reasonable religion and secular values were overtaking a blind confidence in authority. Individual freedoms were taking central stage in political debates. Excitement over modern technologies and abilities were beginning to replace a worshipful focus on the ancient world. Locke embraced all of these trends and became their most influential spokesman.

The political scene during Locke's time was unstable. In the wake of civil war, “Oliver Cromwell’ had brought temporary peace. With Cromwell gone by the mid-17th century, however, Parliament and Crown reentered an ardent struggle for power. Because Lord Ashley, Locke's employer, was first the right hand man of King Charles II and then the leader of his opposition in Parliament, Locke found himself at the center of political maneuverings and intrigue. He helped to frame the constitution for the colony of Carolina, and wrote the treatises that justified the Glorious Revolution in which William of Orange seized the throne from King James, brother of Charles. Locke's two Treatises of Government, published anonymously, argued that the only justified government was one that ruled contractually rather than by the ruler's whimsy, thus laying the foundation for a limited kingship, heavily tethered by Parliament and the will of the people. Years later, the colonists in America would use Locke's arguments as the basis for their own “revolution”, claiming that King George had failed to abide by his contract, thereby forfeiting his right to rule over them.

Locke was also extremely active in religious affairs. A heated Protestant/Catholic divide helped to make the stormy political scene of late 17th England that much more turbulent. Issues of religious intolerance and forced conversion were of paramount practical importance. Locke began his career on the side of authoritarian religious impositions, but quickly changed his mind. A 1675 visit to Cleves, which exposed him to a community where members of different churches lived together peacefully, might have helped sway his opinion toward religious toleration. Locke ended up writing several well-read and enormously controversial essays in favor of religious toleration. Locke's religious writings, as well his publication of the Essay landed him in a lengthy controversy with the Bishop of Worcester. Some material generated from their published debates, found its way into later editions of the Essay.

Locke's participation in modern scientific advances was largely the result of his close ties with Robert Boyle. Throughout Europe, education's focus on the ancient world was being challenged by thinkers who preferred to focus on new technology and modern ideas. Locke's Essay gave one of the decisive blows to the already ailing Scholastic movement.

Locke did not set out to write a book on education. In 1684, he was approached by his friend Edward Clarke, who asked for Locke's advice on how to best raise his newborn son. Locke responded with a series of letters, which he continued to send all the way up until 1691. During the course of these letter-writing years other friends, such as William Molyneux, asked to see the letters, and soon Locke's ideas on education were circulating among a small group of parents. According to the preface ofSome Thoughts, it was the members of this group of readers that ultimately persuaded Locke to publish his letters as a book.

Because it started as a series of letters, Some Thoughts does not present a systematic theory of education. As the title indicates, it merely presents some thoughts on the topic. Nonetheless it shows a great deal of insight into child psychology. When Locke speaks about "education", what he means is primarily moral education. The aim of education, in his view, is to give a man rational control over his passions and desires.

As Locke sees the world, there exist certain laws of nature, stemming from God, and we must only use our reason to discover these laws. The most basic law of nature states that we must defend all of God's creatures (both ourselves and others) because we are all children of God and beloved by him. Other laws state that we have a right to property and that we have a right to punish those who violate the laws of nature. By using our reason to discover these laws, and then by following the dictates of these laws, we not only create the ideal civil society (one governed by consensual contract) but we avoid almost all human evils. The ability for human society to function in this ideal way, however, depends on the capacity people have for subverting their own passing whimsies to the dictates of reason. If people do not have this capacity, then civil society cannot maintain itself because the laws of nature will not be heeded. Some Thoughts, then, can be seen as a training manual for the moral people Locke needs to populate his civil society.

Although some of Locke's concerns may seem trivial, he believes that nothing could be more important than education. As human beings, it is human beings that we are concerned with — both on the individual and societal levels — and the single most important ingredient in the formation of a human being is his education.

This is a very strong claim on Locke's part because many people might believe that education is not the single most important ingredient in the formation of a human being. Others might even find this to be a frightening prospect; does this mean that children of poorer parents who are not sent to good schools have no chance of becoming good people? However, when Locke talks about education he is not talking about what school a child attends. In fact, Locke does not think children should go to school at all. He thinks that a private tutor should teach them at home. Although this solution may seem elitist, Locke believes that parents are capable of performing the role of private tutor. Locke does not believe that an academic education has much to do with forming a sound mind. When Locke talks about the importance of education he is talking about the importance of moral education; that is, about training a child to be virtuous. When viewed in this light his claim seems a little less radical, but it is still far from an obvious truth.

Locke addresses the comparative importance of environment and genetics. Locke puts a great deal of weight on the nurture side: he says that nine tenths of all men are the way they are because of the way in which they were nurtured. Others, though, might put more weight on the nature side; they might argue, for instance, that men are simply born with certain personalities and no matter how you try to educate them you will make very little headway in trying to change these personalities.

Locke is not completely dismissive of the nature side of the debate. While he thinks that children's minds are malleable, he admits, as we will see later, that each child is born with a certain temperament, or character. He even admits that this temperament can never be radically altered, but only encouraged in the best direction. The question, then, really does just come down to relative weights: given that children are each born with their own personalities, how much can education really be expected to form them? Locke is confident that education can go a long way, but anyone is free to object to this appraisal, especially since he never provides any arguments or hard evidence for his claims. This is something to look out for as you read Some Thoughts: is Locke justified in making his strong claims for the power of education? Does he fairly assess the nature side of the debate with his discussion of temperaments, or is his understanding of nature somewhat shallow and question begging? These are questions we will return to later.

[J N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dù có những đoạn tôi chưa thật sự đồng ý với Locke nhưng nhìn chung, tư tưởng xuyên suốt của cuốn sách này: Xem một đứa trẻ như một người duy lý - tôi rất đồng tình.

Cuốn sách này bao gồm 50 đoạn, trích từ tiểu luận gốc Vài suy nghĩ về giáo dục của tác giả. Locke cho rằng, muốn giáo dục một đứa trẻ, bậc cha mẹ và người thầy cần xem đứa trẻ ấy là một người duy lý, từ đó, họ mới lựa chọn cách truyền tải bài học phù hợp. Một đứa trẻ duy lý sẽ cần người lớn diễn giải và đưa ra hướng dẫn hợp lý cho các hoạt động diễn ra quanh nó; một đứa trẻ như thế cũng sẽ có cái tôi và tự trọng mà người lớn cần gọt dũa cũng như tôn trọng. Locke không ủng hộ đòn roi khi dạy con trẻ mà đề ra một triết lý giáo dục kỷ luật, có nguyên tắc nhưng cũng đầy tôn trọng. Locke nói rằng:

" ... nếu trí óc đứa trẻ bị kiềm chế quá chặt chẽ, bị xúc phạm quá nhiều, nếu tinh thần đứa trẻ bị suy nhược vì bị đàn áp bởi một quy luật quá cứng rắn thì đứa trẻ sẽ mất lòng hăng hái, mất năng lực và có thể rơi vào tình trạng tồi tệ hơn hai tình trạng nói trên."

"Danh dự và hổ thẹn là hai trong những động cơ mạnh mẽ nhất đối với tâm trí, khi tâm trí [bắt đầu] biết cảm nhận chúng."

Khi biết cách giao tiếp và dạy dỗ con thì tố chất nào mà cha mẹ và người thầy cần chú tâm hướng dẫn trẻ phát triển? Locke viết:

"Điều mà mọi người cha biết lo lắng đến sự giáo dục của con mình muốn cho nó có, ngoài cái sản nghiệp để lại gồm bốn điều: đức hạnh, sự khôn ngoan, phép lịch sự và học vấn."
"Tôi đặt đức hạnh lên hàng đầu của các đức tính mà một con người, có học hay không, cũng cần có: nó tuyệt đối cần thiết nếu ta muốn được người khác kính trọng, thương mến, và [giúp ta] hài lòng với chính mình. Không có đức tính này, ta sẽ không có hạnh phúc trong cõi đời này và ngay cả trong đời sau."

Quả thực với tôi, triết lý và niềm tin kể trên của Locke hoàn toàn cùng hướng suy nghĩ về cách giáo dục trẻ em, đặc biệt là các em gần với tôi. Mẹ tôi hay bảo tôi như thế là nói nhiều, nói dai nhưng điều đấy tôi không quá quan tâm. Tôi nhìn thấy Locke thì vấn đề khác không quá quan trọng. Cuốn này có nhiều tư tưởng mà giáo dục hiện đại vẫn thực hành và tiếp tục trong nhiều năm sau. Vì không ủng hộ hết tất cả các suy nghĩ của Locke trong cuốn này nên tôi không thể cho nó điểm tuyệt đối. Cuốn sách vẫn rất rất nên đọc!

Một điều khác, là tôi ngày càng thích Locke và ám ảnh với triết học của ông! Hứa sẽ tìm nhiều thứ liên quan đến Locke hơn trong thời gian tới.

Tôi xin bổ sung thêm một suy nghĩ mà tôi cũng rất thích:

"Chúng ta mặc áo quần để khỏi bị xấu hổ, để được ấm áp và để che chở thân thể, nhưng có một số cha mẹ vì thói xấu hay vì điên rồ mà gán cho quần áo những mục tiêu khác. Họ biến quần áo thành những đồ vật để khiêu gợi lòng kiêu căng, đua đòi. Người ta là cho một đứa trẻ say mê một bộ y phục vì bộ y phục ấy mới và đẹp [...] Làm sao chúng lại không tiếp tục hãnh diện phô trương cái bề ngoài - và chúng cũng không biết rằng đó là công sức của những thợ may - khi chính cha mẹ chúng đã dạy như vậy từ khi chúng còn thơ ấu?"

[Danijel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 52-53 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:11:34 AM

Mislim namreč, da je dolžnost vsakega človeka, da stori vse, kar more, v prid svoje dežele;
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 97-98 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:15:45 AM

Zdrav duh v zdravem telesu1 je kratek, a popoln opis sreče na tem svetu.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 112-113 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:17:21 AM

Mislim, da je duha otrok mogoče prav tako zlahka speljati v to ali ono smer kakor vodo.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 134-135 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:19:20 AM

»Naše telo vzdrži vse, na kar ga že zgodaj navadimo.«
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 351-351 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 1:53:13 PM

Ne morete si zamisliti, kakšna je moč navade.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 368-368 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 1:54:30 PM

Gentlemana bi morali vselej vzgajati tako, da bi bil zmožen nositi orožje in biti vojak.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 368-370 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 1:54:41 PM

Kdor pa svojega sina vzgaja, kakor da mu je namenjeno prespati vse življenje v obilju in udobju bogastva, ki mu ga namerava zapustiti, prav nič ne misli na dogajanje okrog sebe ali na čas, v katerem živi.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 390-391 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 1:55:28 PM

Pri vzgoji je treba premisliti predvsem o tem, kakšne navade boste vcepili otroku,
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 569-572 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 2:00:29 PM

da namreč razlike v značajih in zmožnostih ljudi izvirajo iz njihove vzgoje bolj kot iz česar koli drugega, potem smemo upravičeno sklepati, da je treba oblikovanju otrokovega duha posvetiti veliko skrb in mladega gospodiča pravočasno naučiti tistega vedenja, ki bo vplivalo na vse njegovo poznejše življenje.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 579-581 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 2:01:18 PM

Opazil sem, da ljudje navadno zagrešijo tole veliko napako: ne poskrbijo dovolj, da bi se vzgoje otrok lotili pravočasno, da bi duha privadili na disciplino in poslušnost razumu tedaj, ko je najbolj nežen in ga je mogoče najbolj zlahka upogniti.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 593-594 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 2:02:39 PM

pozneje, ko pijejo vodo slabega okusa, pa se čudijo, čeprav so sami zastrupili izvir.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 641-644 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:37:03 PM

Oblačila imamo, ker smo sramežljivi, da nam je toplo in da zavarujemo svoja telesa, toda starši so tako neumni in bedasti, da jih priporočajo otrokom za povsem drugačne namene. Iz oblačil so naredili predmet nečimrnosti in zavisti. V otroku podpihujejo željo po novi obleki zgolj zaradi lišpa. Ko
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 746-749 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:41:28 PM

Prišel bo namreč čas, ko bodo prerasli palico in kazni, in če zaradi ljubezni do vas ne bodo poslušni in ubogljivi, če jih ne bo ljubezen do kreposti in dobrega imena držala na pravi poti, kakšen vpliv boste uporabili, vas vprašam, da bi jih usmerili nanjo?
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 818-821 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:45:10 PM

Taka suženjska disciplina oblikuje suženjski značaj. Otrok uboga in hlini poslušnost, dokler ga preganja strah pred palico, ko pa strah izgine in ko se izmakne vzgojiteljevemu nadzoru, si lahko dovoli ravnanje, zaradi katerega ga ne bo nihče kaznoval. Takrat dá duška svojim naravnim nagnjenjem, saj se s to metodo sploh ne spremenijo,
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 1231-1232 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:50:38 PM

tole: le kdor opira srečo svojega sina na krepost in dobro vzgojo, hodi po edino varni in zanesljivi poti.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 1542-1543 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:52:32 PM

resnici ni ničesar, kar bi se tako mehko in globoko vtisnilo v človekovega duha kakor zgled.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 1558-1560 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:54:07 PM

Kot sem že dejal, je tepež najslabše in zato zadnje sredstvo, ki ga moramo uporabiti pri kaznovanju otrok, in še to le v skrajnih primerih, potem ko smo poskusili vse blažje načine in ko so se izkazali za neuspešne.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 1679-1681 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:55:19 PM

In sprašujem vas, ali ne bi raje videli, da bi bil vaš sin podoben nekaterim od tistih, ki imajo le petsto funtov letnega dohodka, kot pa nekaterim drugim vašim znancem, ki imajo po pet tisoč funtov na leto?
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Bookmark Location 1681 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 7:57:24 PM


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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 2003-2006 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:01:36 PM

Predvsem pri vprašanjih morale, preudarnosti in spodobnosti mu je treba navesti primere in ga vprašati za sodbo. To spodbuja njegov razum bolj kakor vse maksime, naj so še tako jasno razložene, pravila kot opora pri vsakdanjem ravnanju pa se bolje vtisnejo v spomin.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 2003-2007 | Added on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:01:59 PM

Predvsem pri vprašanjih morale, preudarnosti in spodobnosti mu je treba navesti primere in ga vprašati za sodbo. To spodbuja njegov razum bolj kakor vse maksime, naj so še tako jasno razložene, pravila kot opora pri vsakdanjem ravnanju pa se bolje vtisnejo v spomin. Tako njegov duh sprejme stvari same, da se trdno zasidrajo v njem in za vselej ohranijo jasno gotovost.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 2782-2784 | Added on Friday, August 15, 2014 7:13:18 PM

Laganje tako pripravno in zlahka prikrije storjeno napako in je tako priljubljeno med ljudmi vseh vrst, da otrok skoraj ne more spregledati, kako se ob vsaki priložnosti zatekajo k njej.
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Nekaj misli o vzgoji (John Locke)
- Your Highlight Location 4558-4560 | Added on Friday, August 15, 2014 7:17:00 PM

Vsak človek ima tako posebnega duha, kakor je poseben njegov obraz, po katerem se razlikuje od drugih ljudi. In morda niti dveh otrok ni mogoče vzgajati po natanko isti metodi.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education because it is featured in volume 37 of Harvard Classics (1909) alongside An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume and Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous by George Berekley. In this book, Locke provides a treatise on what he considered an ideal education would look it. Written in 1693, the work is product of his era of English culture. This is an education for the son of a gentlemen, as the majority of boys and girls would not have had access to the necessary wealth to afford a tutor and other such services suggested here. This limited scope frustrated me. It is interesting how little of Some Thoughts Concerning Education focuses on the development of an academic curriculum. Locke was a physician as well as a philosopher, so much of the book is about how to ensure a boy develops a healthy body, along with a virtuous character.

I found Some Thoughts Concerning Education to be primarily of interest as a look into John Locke, one of the great minds of the 17th century, and his world. Some of his thoughts on health struck me as absurd, as I am a man of the 21st century. Locke suggests that growing boys should only eat once a day and have a diet primarily made up of bread. He suggested that the intake of water should be strictly limited. I can’t see a physician nowadays recommending such restrictions to a child. Even so, I love the idea of instilling virtue into a child from a young age, along with focusing education on improving a young person’s ability to write clearly and tell a good story in his native language.

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[Image: Cover of the Delphi Classics’ The Harvard Classics]

Citation:
Locke, J. (2018). Some thoughts concernng education . In C. W. Eliot (Ed.), The Harvard classics [eBook]. Delphi Classics. https://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/t... (Original work published 1693)

Title: Some Thoughts Concernng Education
Author(s): John Locke (1632-1704)
Year: 1693
Series: The Harvard Classics (1909): Volume 37 - Delphi Complete Harvard Classics and Shelf of Fiction
Genre: Nonfiction - Education & Learning
Date(s) read: 6/22/25 - 6/26/25
Book 132 in 2025
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[Giang Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuốn sách duy nhất về giáo dục mà John Locke viết, nhưng tư duy về giáo dục trẻ em của ông thực sự làm mình ngạc nhiên, vì cuốn sách được viết từ thế kỷ 17 và tư tưởng cốt lõi vẫn còn đúng với ngày nay.
Bản đầy đủ là Some thoughts concerning education, nhưng bản tiếng Việt chỉ trích dịch 50 trong số 217 đoạn, chủ yếu do nội dung cuốn sách này viết về việc giáo dục cho con trai của một quý tộc vùng quê, nên nhiều cái không áp dụng cho độc giả Việt Nam và độc giả hiện đại.

Sau khi đọc xong cuốn sách thì mình rút ra được (theo mình nghĩ) tư tưởng giáo dục cốt lõi của John Locke là giáo dục con cái bằng sự tôn trọng, dùng càng ít luật lệ càng tốt và dùng chính bản thân cha mẹ làm thân giáo, đức dục quan trọng hơn trí dục. Cha mẹ nên ưu tiên giáo dục nhân cách, kỷ luật, thói điều độ, gìn giữ tâm trí tò mò của con trẻ hơn là nhồi nhét tri thức vào đầu tụi nhỏ quá sớm.
Mình đồng tình với hầu hết các tư tưởng bao gồm trong bản trích dịch này.

[PlatonisCiceronis · Rating 5 out of 5]

'If men from their youth were weaned from that sauntring humour wherein some out of custom let a good part of their lives run uselessly away, without either business or recreation, they would find time enough to acquire dexterity and skill in hundreds of things, which, though remote from their proper callings, would not at all interfere with them. And therefore, I think, for this, as well as other reasons before-mentioned, a lazy, listless humour that idly dreams away the days, is of all others the least to be indulged or permitted in young people. It is the proper state of one sick and out of order in his health, and is tolerable in nobody else of what age or condition so-ever.'

This book has nuggets of aged knowledge all around and about its parts. I think I saved more than 100 passages for future study.

[Thangible · Rating 4 out of 5]

TLDR: "dạy con từ thuở còn thơ dạy vợ từ thuở bơ vơ mới về". Tôi trích vậy chứ tôi không ủng hộ vế 2.

Keynotes:
- Giáo dục khó vãi l, làm sao mà vừa để nổi trội cá tính bẩm sinh mà có thể uốn nắn dạy kỹ luật là một nghê thuật.
- Có 2 mục đích chính của giáo dục trẻ là: 1) Dạy cách từ chối cảm dỗ 2) Quên rồi.
- Chế độ thường phạt đừng có ngây thơ quá, chứ ko là trẻ nó làm theo đối phó để chờ lớn lên bộc phát rõ. làm sao chó nó hiểu làm điều cám dỗ là xấu hổ, tệ cho nó và làm điều tốt là mang lại danh dự cho nó.
- Thưởng phạt kỷ luật thì mức độ giảm đều khi trẻ lớn lên, từ chủ nghĩa chuyên chế từ 0 tuổi đến chủ nghĩa dân chủ (làm bạn) đến tuổi dậy thì.

[Christopher H. Junge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Locke’s philosophy toward education (or learning, for that matter) and child-rearing is one that I believe was far beyond his time. Much of his perspective toward children aligns with contemporary understandings of behaviorism, and his outlook on education aligns heavily with my own.

I am appreciative of the slight disregard toward knowledge and rather the emphasis on experience - it is through our reception of life that we become stewards of it, memorization and knowledge alone do not make great men. I look forward to reading more from Locke in the near future.

[Hubert Kucharski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Locke's essay on Education is probably one I will re-read in my later years. Some Thoughts Concerning Education explains how to educate the mind using three distinct methods: the development of a healthy body; the formation of a virtuous character; and the choice of an appropriate academic curriculum.

If anything, the book actually feels more like a guide towards parenting, with its doctrines being derived from Locke's general philosophy. While being initially published in 1693, I found that some of its recommendations are still relevant to the modern world.

[Quang Nguyen Dinh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Một cuốn sách giáo khoa cho những người làm cha, mẹ cũng như những người có sự ảnh hưởng lớn trong việc giáo dục trẻ nhỏ. Tuy không đi sâu vào phương pháp cụ thể nhưng tác giả đã chỉ ra một đường hướng cơ bản trong việc giáo dục, mà dù hoàn cảnh có thay đổi thế nào thì những người có trách nhiệm cần nắm lấy. Cuốn sách được viết ra từ rất lâu nhưng tư tưởng lại không hề lạc hậu mà hiện nay người ta cũng đang cố gắng thực hiện để đạt được một nền giáo dục nhân văn.

[Jeff Durant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Locke, much like his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, in this text is primarily negative. In the Essay he was trying to tear down the Aristotelian order which had reigned over epistemology and metaphysics. Locke is in a similar mode here. His intention was to remove unnecessary pedantries from the curriculum, and therefore make education more practical. It's preferable to Rousseau, and most of his ideas are now accepted as common sense. Suggested reading for parents.

[Joel Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly interesting book where the English Philosopher John Locke shares his thoughts on the ideal education for a gentleman of his time. The Treatise begins the start, within educational philosophy, of a move towards concern with the utility of education; i.e. how does this apply to 'real life.'

[thuys]

Nhiều suy nghĩ hay lắm dù không phải mới, và thú thực mình cũng trăn trở bấy lâu, nhưng phương pháp cụ thể thì chưa rõ ràng. Những thiếu sót của hệ thống giáo dục đại trà (nguy ở chỗ không những hệ thống hổng (thậm chí sai lối) lại còn áp dụng trên diện rộng, hỏng là hỏng cả một thế hệ) nhiều khi khiến mình trông về hình thức thầy dạy tư ngày xưa mà tìm một lời chỉ dẫn. Trồng cây khó lắm.

[Chu Trầm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needless to say, I wish my parents had read this book... These thoughts of Locke are surely ahead of his time and still receive recognition these days.
9/10 and it’s easy to read (in VNam verse) (compared with other philosophy books)

[Sortior · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a bit confusing to the modern reader. This book is about raising children. It should be read by all parents as many insights are useful today. I was surprised by much of the narrative in how modern it seemed towards raising kids.

[Batuhan Can · Rating 4 out of 5]

sağlık konusunda dedikleri çok saçma geldi ama kitap genel olarak güzeldi sonuçta Stuart mill gibi bir adam bu adamdan(locke) etkilenen bir babanın çocuğu

[Ondřej Volf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though it was written some-hundred years ago, it still holds up. Some things from the book are incredibly relevent in connection to today’s education and raising children.

[Thevan Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dù có một vài điểm đã cũ, nhưng nhìn chung, các quan điểm của John Locke sau 300 năm vẫn rất đáng suy ngẫm.

[Luka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am giving this a gift to each and every one of my friends or family members that has kids in the future

[Phuong Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

Một quyển sách rất hay về cách bạn trưởng thành như một con người, và vì sao bạn nên nuôi một chú chó trước khi lập gia đình.

[Linh Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Locke đưa cho mình những góc nhìn thật chân thực và thâm sâu về việc giáo dục một đứa trẻ. Mình sẽ đọc đi đọc lại nhiều lần để thấm nhuần tư tưởng của bác.

[Bich · Rating 3 out of 5]

simple but meaningful. People always look for perfect things yet don't know they're so close and created by themselves day after day